The use of an endoscope to visualize a location within the human body is known in the art. As part of a medical procedure, a physician may wish to access the identified location with one or more tools, objects, or apparatus. Reaching the identified location with the apparatus may be difficult with the endoscope for many reasons, such as for example, the apparatus is larger than the diameter of the endoscope instrument channel diameter. One such apparatus is a image capturing device.
Several autonomous capsule devices are known in the art for capturing images within a human subject. These capsules typically contain a small power source and photographic capabilities for capturing images of the intestinal tract. One type of capsule known in the art is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,531. For exemplary purposes, a typical capsule is about the size of a large vitamin.
After swallowing, the capsule passes through the gastro-intestinal tract transmitting images to a recorder mounted in a belt-like device worn by the subject. One model of this capsule captures an image every 0.5 seconds. The images can be reviewed at a later date. One such capsule is the PILLCAM™ marketed by Givens Imaging Ltd.
A percentage of patients have difficulty swallowing the capsule, or in some cases, have a delayed entry into the small intestines, rendering the capsule powerless or with substantially reduced battery life prior to passing through some or all targeted areas to be photographed. Because this technique is often used for patients who present with difficult to diagnose symptoms, a complete set of images is important. Patients may have difficulty passing the capsule for many reasons, including oropharyngeal or mechanical dysphagia, gastroparesis and known or suspected anatomical abnormalities.
To solve these and other problems, the present invention can be used to deliver the capsule directly to a targeted location, either in the stomach or post-pylorically in the small intestine. The present invention uses a design having capsule retention and capsule expulsion features that are combined to create an inexpensive, reliable and easy to use product. Consequently, it is believed that a higher percentage of autonomous capsule devices will yield satisfactory results when delivered by the apparatus and method of the present invention. Further, the present invention is applicable to other monitoring devices, as well as other types of deliverable objects. Use of the device will reduce wasted video capsules, allow the esophagus to be traversed in patients that cannot swallow the capsule, and significantly increase the likelihood of complete image capture of the small intestines.